Warhawks earn bid to Divison III Final Four

WHITEWATER -- UW-Whitewater is going to Salem in March. The eighth ranked Warhawks defeated sixth ranked Virginia Wesleyan 76-62 in a NCAA III tournament sectional final on their home court.

Virginia Wesleyan scored the first basket of the game, and Whitewater followed with a 15-1 run.  The Marlins cut the deficit to single digits, 20-11, but the Warhawks upped the margin to thirteen three separate times throughout the first half.  VW cut the lead back to eight, 34-26, but UW-W went into the locker room leading 36-26.

Virginia Wesleyan scored the first point of the second half, lowering the deficit to nine, but that was the last time that UW-W did not hold a double digit lead.  The Warhawks' lead ballooned to 18 points four times in the half, the last at 76-58, in the last minute of play.

Warhawks senior, Chris Davis recorded his ninth double double of the season, scoring 33 and pulling down 11 rebounds.  Sophomore guard Alex Merg, (Greendale), scored ten points and a game high seven assists.

#8 UW-W, (27-4), will face #3 MIT, (29-1), Friday night.  The winner will advance to play Saturday night for the Division III title.

UW-W will be making its fourth final four appearance.  The Warhawks finished fourth in 1983 when the finals were at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and returned a year later to win the 1984 title.  UW-W also advanced to the final four in 1989, defeating Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey) for the school's second Division III championship.